This study examines the occupational health and safety experiences of migrant workers employed as live-in caregivers in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Interviews with and surveys of caregivers identify four categories of common occupational hazards, including fatigue, psychosocial stress, physical hazards, and exposure to harassment and abuse. These hazards are systemically perpetuated, made invisible and rendered irremediable by intertwined (im)mobilities. At the macro-level, they include highly circumscribed and precarious conditions of transnational care migration such as indenturing to private and under-regulated recruiters, federal policies that tie status to employers and employment, and changeable, rule-bound pathways to permanent residency. At the meso-level, we find a volatile mix of mobilities and immobilities associated with employment in the oil economy of Fort McMurray, such as high population mobility and turnover, long work and commuting hours, and remoteness. And, at the micro-level, we find the everyday immobilities and highly circumscribed conditions and complexities of working and living with employers in private homes.

This study confirms and refines prior estimates of under-claiming of workers’ compensation benefits and suggests that under-claiming negatively affects the utility of workers’ compensation data in injury prevention efforts. A 2017 online poll ( N = 2,000) queried the injury and workers’ compensation experiences of Alberta workers. Approximately 21.5 percent of respondents reported at least one work-related injury in the previous 12 months, of which 41.8 percent were disabling injuries. Only 31 percent of workers with disabling injuries filed a workers’ compensation claim. Under-claiming was more common among women, non-unionized workers, and workers facing relatively fewer hazards.

Fear of retaliation poses a significant barrier to workers exercising their employment rights and claiming statutory benefits. This study of 2000 workers in the western Canadian province of Alberta found modest overall levels of worker fear (16%) of retaliation. Much higher fear levels (>40%) are reported in the most dangerous workplaces. Fear levels also escalated as the exercise of rights became more active, concrete, and potentially costly and disruptive for the employer. Workers who did not claim workers' compensation benefits or refuse unsafe work flagged fear of retaliation as a significant factor. These findings raise serious questions about the effectiveness of making workers primarily responsible for triggering the enforcement of employment rights.

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